Thursday 15th May

Passengers had a fabulous experience on this afternoon’s Ocean Discovery trip, when we found large numbers of common dolphins feeding with countless shearwaters and lots of gannets and guillemots. All had seemed quiet for a while, though it was a beautiful sunny afternoon, with light winds. Distant views of gannets dropping down into the water showed us where there was a focused patch of food, and sure enough it was full of life. You could actually smell the fish oil (a much nicer smell than the phrase “fish oil” suggests – it’s quite a sweet mariney scent). Several juvenile dolphins played around the boat for a time, including a melanistic animal, meaning an excess of pigmentation (quite a common abnormality in the dolphins we see). As we turned to head north, several of the dolphins raced closer inshore with us.